2 Weeks Left

Good Afternoon!

Our students had a great first week back after the Thanksgiving break.  We have two weeks remaining until our Winter break.  Please remind your student to stay current with their academics, ask for extra help, and get plenty of rest and proper nutrition.  We have had several students out with flu like symptoms, so we are encouraging all the students to get plenty of rest.

Also, please try your best to attend one of our upcoming music or co-curricular events. Our students have been working very hard to prepare for our contests and concerts.

Thanks and go Spartans!!

Community Thanksgiving Dinner

Please join the Sparta Community at our annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at Meadowview School.  All are welcome!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Rolling into Break

Our students are working very hard as we approach the Thanksgiving break. We are working very diligently with all students to use the break to get caught up on any and all missing work.  All of our classes accept late homework as we are more concerned about what the students know.  Please touch base with your son/daughter and Family Access to see how they are doing academically.

Veterans Day Program

A special thank you to Ret. Col. Tom Smith for speaking to our entire SHS student body.

Science Project

Ms. Frieling's students worked very hard to design and implement a self sufficient roller coaster!!!! Great work and we are impressed at your perseverence as I know many "issues"

Start of 2nd Quarter!

Good Morning!

Today SHS starts our 2nd quarter.  It is a fresh start for all students as they work towards their semester grade that appears on the transcripts.  We will be speaking with students about study hall movement on Monday, with the changes to happen on Tuesday.

Please keep encouraging your student(s) to seek help and get as much assistance as possible to increase their student achievement.  By working together, we can accomplish great things!!

Veterans Day Program

Sparta High School will be hosting its annual Veterans Day Program on Monday, November 11, in the Alton Ask Gymnasium at 9:15 a.m.  Our keynote speaker will Ret. Col. Tom Smith, Ambassador for the Vietnam Memorial Fund, and our Symphonic Band and SHE/Vocal Jazz will be featured.  Sparta High will be running a Grad Group Schedule this day and all students will be attending this program.

WKCE Complete!

Congratulations to our sophomores for completing the WKCE!!  Except for a few make-up assessments, we are all done.  They all did a great job working hard and being respectful to their fellow classmates as we spent over 8 hours as a group in the AA Gym.  This is the last year the state of WI will be using the WKCE as we will be transferring to the ACT Suite for grades 9-11.

Thank you to all the parents who encouraged their students to do their best through this important, mandated assessment.  We will be receiving the results of the WKCE in early spring and will disseminate the information to the students most likely in late April or early May.

WKCE Day 1

We had a great first day of testing!!!  Thank you to all the sophomores for doing their best and being respectful to all their classmates throughout the assessment this afternoon. Today, we finished the math portions (4 sections) and completed one section of reading and science.  Tomorrow, we will finish reading, science, and language arts.

Tomorrow morning all sophomores are encourage to eat the free breakfast available to them in our food court.  We also encouraged all of our sophomores to get plenty of rest and good nutrition tonight in order to be ready for tomorrrow.

WKCE Week at SHS!! Oct. 28, 29, 30

Good Morning!

Sparta High will be WKCE testing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.  yesterday, all sophomores during resource went to the AA Gym as I spoke with them in regard to their upcoming assessments.  My message was very short and clear:

• Just do your best as this is the same expectation as we have always had.
• All students are well prepared as since they entered SHS as freshman, every class has gotten them ready for this through our school wide test prep program.

Our sophomores responded very well, and I expect them to do their best next week.  Students who are absent during any portion of the assessment will make up the missing assessments later that week and into the next.

If you have any questions in regard to WKCE, or anything associated with SHS, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Thanks and Go Spartans!!!!!

Spartan Spirit for 1st Quarter

Please check out Sparta High's first quarter newsletter!

http://secondary.spartan.org/media/2902/October%202013.pdf

Working Very Hard!!!

Good Evening!

Our students are working very hard as we begin to finish up the first quarter of this school year.  Seniors are very busy getting their college applications ready and sent out, while our Juniors continue to work very hard on shaping their path to post-secondary readiness.  Our Sophomores are gearing up for the WKCE, and our Freshman are getting into the SHS routine very well as we start to see a lot of growth, both academically and personally with our all of our students.

Please keep encouraging your son(s)/daughter(s) to do their best, get plenty of rest, and eat well.  The cold and flu season will be here very shortly, and anything we can do to be proactive will help in the long run.

Just a reminder that we do not have any school on this Friday, October 25.

If you have any questions in regard to SHS, please feel free to contact me anytime at sruss@spartan.org or 608-366-3504.

GO SPARTANS!!!

PSAT Infromation

PSAT/NMSQT (preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) is a standardized test that provides practice for college entrance tests i.e. SAT or ACT.  The PSAT measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills, and writing skills.  Testing offers students an opportunity to test under timed conditions.  It also gives students a chance to enter the Nation Merit Scholarship competition. 

The PSAT will be Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 7:35 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the SHS LMC.  The cost of the test is $14 and payable by check to SHS.  Students will sign-up in the main office with Mrs. K.  Students will only be signed-up when the testing fee is paid.  Space is limited to 40 students.  Please sign-up by Tuesday, October 15, 2013.  Students on free/reduced lunch can qualify for a fee waiver (limited quantity).  Please see Mrs. Sloan for information.

Orange Day

Thank you to all the students and staff who wore orange today in support of "Unity Day" across the country.  We had a good number of students and staff participate in this activity.

Just a reminder that we do not have school on Friday, but have parent teacher conferences from 7:30-10:30 a.m.  We are encouraging all students to use this non-school day to catch up and/or proactive to get ready for the upcoming few weeks at SHS.  Our students moved study halls today to get them the extra support  needed and reward those who are doing well.

Tomorrow is a Red Day, and we will be having hours 2,4, resource, 6, and 8.

Enjoy the long (for our students) weekend and please let me know if you have any questions regarding SHS.

Have a great night!

Juniors at WEF

Today, over 100 of our juniors participated in the Wisconsin Education Fair hosted at UWL today.  Our students learned information in regard to all types of post-secondary options available to our students.  Our students then took a tour of either Viterbo to get a "feel" of a four year campus or Western Technical College for a 2-year college expereince.  Thank you to both Viterbo and WTC as our students were very impressed with both institutions of higher learning. 

In the past, SHS has typically had 80 students attend this opportunity; it was very exciting to see more students learning more about their post-secondary options and becoming more college and career ready.

Good Start the Week

We are off to a great start to the week!  We had parent teacher conferences tonight with a steady flow of parents and students throughout.  We do have two more dates for PTC, Oct. 11 from 7:30-10:30 a.m. and Oct. 15 from 3:30-6:30 p.m.  Please try and find time if you did not come tonight to attend these important conferences with your son/daughter's teachers.

Please keep encouraging your son/daughter to be getting plenty of rest and good nutrition.  The cold and flu season will be upon us very soon, and anything we can do to be proactive will help our students stay healthly and ready to learn.

Thanks again for all your support and go Spartans!!

SHS Parent Teacher Conferences

Sparta High School will be hosting 1^st semester parent-teacher-conferences (PTC) on Monday, October 7 from 3:30-6:30 p.m., Friday, October 11 from 7:30-10:30 a.m. (no student classes this day), and Tuesday, October 15 from 3:30-6:30 p.m.  Individual PTC will be held in the teacher’s classroom to give parents/students the privacy needed and also save the school district money by having the parents/students look at the computer screen rather than print out all the necessary reports (approximately 5000). If you cannot make either of the above dates, please contact your son/daughter’s teachers and set up another time to have the PTC.

Staff who will be unavailable for PTC due to scheduling conflicts (lists may change without prior notice):

October 7: Jessie Sloan, Ed Flasch, Joe Gantzer, Cheri Zahaski, Chris Amundson, William Ott (available 3:30-5:15), Larry Noll (available 5:15-6:30), John Blaha (available 5:15-6:30), Mark Byom (available 5:15-6:30), Brittney King (available 5:15-6:30), and Mary Sackmann (available 5:15-6:30).

October 11: Joe Gantzer, Cheri Zahasky, Bob Wetzsteon, Britney Walz, Bill Ott (available 7:30-9:30), Larry Noll (available 7:30-9:30), John Blaha (available 7:30-9:30), and Carol Olson (available 7:30-9:30)

October 15: Chris Amundson, Jessie Sloan (available 4:15-6:30), Mark Byom (available 5:15-6:30), Larry Noll (available 5:15-6:30), John Blaha (available 5:15-6:30), Bill Ott (available 5:15-6:30), Brittney King (available 3:30-5:00), Mary Sackmann (available 3:30-5:00)

 

Please try and make it to at least one of our conferences as it is valuable for both the teachers and students that we have these conferences. 

Senior Counseling Information

High School Counselors are currently meeting with seniors individually to discuss their college, military, or career plans after high school.  (I've attached the senior tip sheet that has upcoming dates and information on it).

There will be a College Admissions presentation on Tuesday, October 15th at 6:00 pm in the High School Auditorium.  Students and families interested in learning the in's and out's of the college admissions process are encouraged to attend.

 

Several colleges, technical and trade schools have set up visits to meet with students in the next few weeks.  A list of upcoming visits can be found on the guidance webpage or click here: http://secondary.spartan.org/for-students/guidance/upcoming-college-visits

ACT Math Prep

Please see below for ACT Math Preparation courses offered at SHS.

Time: October 16, November 6, and November 20.  

(Class will be during Early Release/Late Start)

Wednesday, October 16, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 6, 7:30-9:00 a.m.
Wednesday, November 20, 1:00-3:00 p.m. 
Location: SHS, Smartboard Room 521
Cost: $32.50 (checks payble to SASD).  All payment and registration should turned in to Jessie Sloan, Community Education Coordinator.  Registration and payment is due by Monday, October 14.

Who should attend this workshop:

·         Students who are preparing to take the ACT or COMPASS exam

·         Students who want additional experience and guidance in college testing preparation

 

PSAT Information

PSAT/NMSQT (preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) is a standardized test that provides practice for college entrance tests i.e. SAT or ACT.  The PSAT measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills, and writing skills.  Testing offers students an opportunity to test under timed conditions.  It also gives students a chance to enter the Nation Merit Scholarship competition. 

The PSAT will be Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 7:35 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the SHS LMC.  The cost of the test is $14 and payable by check to SHS.  Students will sign-up in the main office with Mrs. K.  Students will only be signed-up when the testing fee is paid.  Space is limited to 40 students.  Please sign-up by Thursday, October 10, 2013.  Students on free/reduced lunch can qualify for a fee waiver (limited quantity).  Please see Mrs. Sloan for information.

Ms. Sloan and Ms. DeLong will be visiting Jr US History classes on Monday, Sept. 30 to announce the PSAT and Career Fair field trip on Oct. 8.

Great Week!

We are wrapping up a great week at SHS!  After coming off Homecoming week, we have had a smooth week with many classes picking up the learning expectations as the courses are now (if they have not already done so) moving into new material.  Our freshman and sophomore students are finishing up their reading portion of the MAP test, with math next week.

Please remember to encourage your student(s) to get plenty of rest and proper nutrition to perform the best they can in the classroom.  We have an excellent food service here at SHS, and we also have a free after school snack for all students involved in tutoring and/or our co-curricular programming.  

I hope you all have a great weekend and GO SPARTANS!!!

Start of the Week

We had a good first day after our Homecoming week.  The students seemed a little tired after the long week and dance on Saturday night where we had about 400 students.  It is always very nice to see a large number of students at our activities having a great time!!

This week we start our MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing for Reading, and next week is Math.  I spoke with every freshman and sophomore Math and English classes today to stress the importance of every student doing their best on this assessment (and everything they do).  New this year, will be SHS's response to students who are in need of assistance based on their individual results.  Students who do not make proficient on this assessment will be given a different resource during our Gold/Red days for us to give them more support in the area of math and reading.  I informed the students of this as well.

We are looking forward to another great week.  With HC behind us, and the midterm approaching quickly, we will be working with our students to ensure that they are keeping up with the rigors of their classes and giving them the support they need.

Wrapping Up HC Week

We had an excellent Thursday/Gold Day at SHS!  For our HC activities we had our Variety Show acts that were a great hit for the entire student body; we should be very proud of students who performed this morning.

Tomorrow we have the crowning of our King and Queen for HC court, along with preparation for our HC parade at 5:30.  We do have a Red Day (2,4,6,8) tomorrow with a lot of learning going on as well.

We have had a great week and we will have the finale tomorrow!

Go Spartans!!

Early Release Activities

We had a great early release today at SHS!  Our faculty led group discussions in regard to bullying prevention and maintaining a positive school environment.  In between discussions, student and staff watched a movie illustrating the ramifications of bullying behavior on students and the community.  I spoke with the faculty and they were very pleased with the discussions and student behavior during these serious activities. 

At the conclusion of the activities, we continued our Homecoming week with a huge game of Rue Ball!  Please see the picture below as we have many students competing at one time. This positive and friendly competition between classes and staff is an excellent way to bring our learning community closer.

For our professional development in the afternoon, our faculty took a very close look at our final exams and collaborated on making our assessments aligned with our daily learning targets and standards, as well as ensuring the questions are at a high level which challenge our students. 

We are looking forward to a great rest of the homecoming week with a Gold Day tomorrow and a Red Day on Friday!



SHS Report Card Information

Good Morning,

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction recently released a report card for every public school in the state which is composed of student achievement, closing achievement gaps, and post-secondary readiness (graduation rate and ACT scores).   I am very excited, pleased and honored to report that Sparta High School continued to earn the “Exceeds Expectations” accountability rating.  Overall, we increased our overall score from 75.3 to 77.7.  This is an excellent recognition for Sparta High School, the Sparta Area School District, students, parents, staff, and the Sparta community as a whole.  Even though we are very proud of our score, we do recognize that all of us together, students, staff, and parents, can improve and achieve even more for the sake of our students.  Every day we look to improve all of our students’ academic achievement and attendance as we strive for every Sparta High students to not only graduate on time with their peers, but to be college and career ready after graduation.  This will take a great deal of energy and effort for everyone involved in the entire Sparta Area School District Learning Community, however I am very confident that we can continue to raise our student achievement for all students.

Here are links to report card information for all Wisconsin Schools and a parent guide to explain the report card in more detail (http://reportcards.dpi.wi.gov/ , http://reportcards.dpi.wi.gov/files/oea/pdf/Report%20Cards%20Info%20for%20Parentsfinal.pdf ).  If anyone has a question about Sparta High’s score, or any other aspect of our school, please contact me at sruss@spartan.org or (608)366-3504.

Monday of HC Week!

We had a great Monday of Homecoming!  We had a very positive assembly where the students exhibited great school spirit!!  Our Homecoming Court was introduced, along with many other activities that our students both participated in and cheered their classmates on. 

All week we will be talking about being positive, both in SHS and the community.  We are very fortunate to have great students and staff which lead SHS in a progressive and positive direction. 

I even got into the "Harry Potter" theme for this year...

Go Spartans!!!!!

Homecoming 2013 Information!!

SHS's Press Release:

Homecoming week begins Monday, Sept. 16, at Sparta High School and will be highlighted daily with special activities and dress up days that culminate parade and dance. Please note that the Homecoming parade time has been changed this year to a later start time on Friday, Sept. 20.

Here is the week's schedule:

Dress up days:

Monday: House Color (Seniors/Gryffindor: Red and Gold, Juniors/Slytherin: Green and Silver, Sophomores/Ravenclaw: Blue and Gold, Freshman/Hufflepuff: Black and Yellow)

Tuesday: Aging Potion

Wednesday: Quidditch Day

Thursday: Dark Magic Day

Friday: Spartan Spirit

 

Monday, Sept. 16: Homecoming court introductions will be done during the day with the Homecoming Variety Show at 7 p.m. In the Auditorium 

Tuesday, Sept. 17: Parade of Athletes/Club participants, 9:15 a.m., Sparta High School. 

Wednesday, Sept. 18: Anti-bullying activities will be done throughout the morning followed by Rueball at 11 a.m. 

Friday, Sept. 20: Homecoming king and queen coronation during assembly at 10:52 a.m., followed by parade at 5:30 p.m. Parade begins at the corner of Hill and Water streets, going north on Water Street, east on Franklin Street and to the football field.  Floats will enter the parking lot and park on the east end of the stadium until halftime. At or after halftime, all floats are responsible for cleaning up their floats, disposing of materials, and taking everything with them. The Varsity Football game begins at 7 p.m. 

 

Saturday, Sept. 21: Homecoming Dance from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets available at the door for $5 or $3 with a canned good/donated food item.

Also, Sparta High School students will be painting windows from 3:15 to 6:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. This will go with the Homecoming theme. They must be completed by 6:30 p.m. For judging.

Gold/Red Days Ahead

We have had three great days to start the work week and are looking forward to our Gold Day tomorrow!  Students will have hours 1,3,5, and 7, with a resource time built in between 3rd and 5th hour.  This resource time is very valuable to our students as it gives them an opportunity to ask questions to all of their teachers and have extra time to get their work done.  Students may "opt" out of their resource after attendance is taken if they meet certain academic, behavior, and attendance requirements.  Students who do not "opt out" or have a required academic pass, remain in their Resource teacher's room to complete their work and work towards being able to "opt out" of resource as an incentive.  On Friday, we will have our Red Day with hours 2,4,6, and 8, along with our resource time as well.

We are looking forward to a great end of the week and look forward to many more days of learning ahead at SHS! 

Go Spartans!!!!

Early Release, September 18

On Wednesday, September 18^th the Sparta Area School District will have their first early release of the year for staff professional development.  SHS students will be dismissed 2 hour earlier than normal (1:01). During this time, Sparta High faculty will be continuing to collaborate to align all of our current assessments to the standards, common across the same course,  and assure that they are challenging our students at  high levels.

Thank you for your continued support of our early releases and staff development time. This time is very valuable to our staff in order to ensure that we increase our student achievement in every student and prepare them to be college and career ready.  If you have any questions in regard to this staff development, or anything else in regard to SHS, please feel free to contact me at sruss@spartan.org or 608-366-3504.

Go Spartans!

Great Start to the Week!

Good Afternoon!

We had an excellent start to the week.  Our students are getting into the flow of our schedules and our students are eagerly awaiting Homecoming week!

Please keep encouraging your son/daughter to do their best, come prepared/on-time to all classes, get plenty of rest, and keep up on their academics.  Please use Family Access to keep up-to-date on your student's progress, and it is an excellent way to communicate with our teachers.

Have a great night!

Sam Russ

Red Day Tomorrow!

Thank you again SHS for a great Gold Day!  I am sure the students got into the swing of things today as they were engaged in the classroom for 90 minutes per class.

Tomorrow is a Red Day, where we have hours 2, 4, 6, and 8 with our resource time in between 4th and 6th hour. During resource tomorrow, we will be splitting up into classes to discuss homecoming activities.  Please encourage your son/daughter to get involved as much as possible during homecoming week as it is a great week for SHS full of Spartan Spirit!

Excellent Day With All Students!

We had a great day at SHS as the entire learning community for 2013-2014 came together for the first time!!!  All students had all eight periods and we had the 10-12 grade students all in the auditorium to go over our school expectations.  After we were all together, we then broke up by classes and went over academic and career information.

We have had a great start to the school year! Thank you to all students for coming to SHS eager to learn, and the parents for getting them well prepared.  Tomorrow we are running our "Gold" schedule with hours 1, 3, 5, and 7, with a resource between 3rd and 5th hour. On SHS's homepage, we have an updated daily schedule that lists the bell schedule for the day.

Parents please keep asking your child how school went and if there is any important dates coming up.  Please be in communication with your student's teachers as keeping an open, positive communication channel increases student success.

Thanks you all again!

Go Spartans!!!!

Great Freshman Day!!!!

We had a great freshman first day today at SHS!!!  The Class of 2017 had a great day of activities designed to get them acclimated with SHS and we had a lot of energy throughout the halls.  Please keep the energy level high as we have the sophomores, juniors, and and seniors coming tomorrow.

All students tomorrow will report to 1st hour by 7:40 a.m. and we are all excited to see everyone as we continue to start our journey for this school year.

Go Spartans!!!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to all!  I hope you are having a great, relaxing weekend as we kick off the 2013-2014 school year tomorrow by welcoming the Class of 2017!  Tuesday, September 3, is specifically dedicated to the Class of 2017 as we have an entire day of activities planned for them.

As we will talk throughout the year in regard to all students being ready to learn every day, it is important for all students to get as much sleep and rest as possible throughout the year.  I know our students are very busy, but by getting into a consistent routine will help our students get as much sleep as possible.  Juggling school, co-curricular activities, family time, and work is difficult at times, so being proactive and getting as much rest as possible will keep our students healthier.  This, along with having good nutrition, will assist our students in the classroom, especially during the flu season.

Have a great rest of the day!  We will see all the freshman tomorrow and the rest of  SHS students on Wednesday, September 4.  If anyone has any questions in regard to SHS, please feel free to contact me sruss@spartan.org or 366-3504.

GO SPARTANS!

Welcome to SHS!!

It is great to be back in the swing of things at Sparta High!  I am very excited for another great year at SHS! Our fall sports are up and going, and we had a great turn out for our registration, pictures, and Open House this August.  It is very exciting to me that we had about 96% of our students pick up their schedules prior to the start of the school year. I know the students and staff are ready to go!

Just another reminder that our first day of school, September 3, is devoted to freshman only.  Freshman should be at SHS early, and in their Grad Group rooms by 7:40 to start the day's events.  The remainder of the students will join the freshman on September 4, and all students report to first hour.

Please check my blog periodically as I will be posting positive happenings and announcements here.  If you ever have any questions regarding SHS, please contact me at any time at 608-366-3504 or sruss@spartan.org .

Have a great Labor Day weekend and Go Spartans!!!!!

Sam Russ
Sparta High School Principal